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| Collective Worship: Together |
9. War Dog
Audio on demand of programme 9 is available 23/11/2006 - 29/11/2006
THEMES: ways animals help others, bravery, loyalty
Preparation for the programme:
FOCUS OBJECT: a medal (if you don't have access to one of these, use something that's given to reward children - e.g. rosettes for sports day, cup for the winning team etc.)
FOCUS IMAGE: click here to display a picture of the Victoria Cross medal.
Programme content:
STORY: War Dog by Sue Reid
VOX POPS: Children talk about the different things their pets can do
FEATURE: Jinpa Smith from the RSPCA talks about animal behaviour and especially working dogs. There is a picture of Jinpa talking with Loreto in the Together studio on the School Radio website.
TALK-ABOUT OPPORTUNITY: Pause to talk about ways in which animals help humans
SONG: Come and Praise 2 no. 80 - 'All the animals'
REFLECTION: on the bravery of Rob, the war dog and other things that animals can do to help
Pre-programme questions:
- Do your pets have unusual ways of behaving sometimes? What do they do? Has your pet ever helped you?
- When might someone receive a medal? Have you ever been awarded something? What for? How did it feel?
- What is the soldier wearing? Talk more together about what children know of the Second World War as background to the programme.
- What's the bravest deed you've ever heard about?
Story synopsis: War Dog by Sue Reid
Rob is a dog who works with the British army in the Second World War. He's had many missions behind enemy lines, protecting soldiers and warning them of impending danger. Now it's his moment of glory, because he's been awarded the Dickin medal - the equivalent of the Victoria Cross - for his bravery on active service.
This is his story....
After the programme:
STORY QUESTIONS:
- Why do you think soldiers used dogs to help them in the War? What could they do that soldiers couldn't? Do you think it's right that they used animals?
- What do you think was the most dangerous thing that Rob did?
- Do you think Rob realised what the medal was for? If it didn't matter to him, why do you think people gave him a medal?
- On Rob's medal it said 'For gallantry. We also serve.' What do you think this means?
- What do you think some of Rob's other missions might have been?
- Do you know about any animals who do similar jobs helping humans?
ACTIVITIES:
- In the song there are lots of categories of animals. Listen to the song again and find more animals to go with each category. How do the animals in each category differ from each other?
- Use the links below to find out more about Rob and the Dickin medal.
- What amazing stories can you find about other brave animals?
- Write a newspaper article reporting on the award ceremony, including details about Rob's bravery.
- Use the internet and other school resources to find out the most amazing fact about an animal that interests you. As a class, vote on which you think is the most amazing fact.
Other weblinks:
The PDSA which awards the Dickin Medal:
http://www.pdsa.org.uk/page309.html
Listen to a BBC Radio 4 programme which features information about Rob:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/animals_vc.shtml
Details of The Animals' War exhibition at the Imperial War Museum:
The RSPCA.
We can't deny it...a recent press article has cast doubt on the accepted version of Rob's story:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/21/nsas21.xml
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Listen to an extract from the series
Come and Praise 1
